Boone answered on the fourth ring. “I can’t come today. I’m currently in surgery. Give me a rundown on what’s going on.”
I did.
“If you have someone run to my office, I have that catch parachute in my office. Tranq supplies are there, too. Creed can handle that,” he offered.
“I’ll have Major go get it,” Creed suggested. “He was on his way out here anyway.”
“Let me know if you need anything,” he said. “I have a horse that lost his tongue to deal with next, as well as a tiger on my surgery table right now.”
He hung up without any more explanation.
“Why would he have a tiger on his surgery table right now?” I wondered.
“I actually know the answer to that,” Creed said as he started typing on his phone. “The zoo’s vet got sick. Pancreatitis. Tiger was pregnant and having complications. Emergency c-section.”
“Interesting,” I found myself saying. “You get Major called in?”
“Yep,” he said. “He’s stopping by Boone’s and getting everything. In the meantime, how’re your girls doin’?”
“Fuckin’ fantastic,” I admitted. “Bossy is settling in good at the school. Eddy is getting better every day. They won their first soccer game last week.”
“And your parents?” he asked. “When do they get here?”
“They sold their house and all of their personal belongings last week. Bought an RV in Iowa. They’re driving up there to get it today, and they’re going to slowly start making their way here. Should be here at the end of the summer after they do a little driving around first.”
“Good,” he said as we watched the bear cub on the telephone pole reposition himself. “And your sister?”
“Unknown,” I admitted. “Black and Denver have decided the less I know, the better. Which I’m tending to agree with at this point.”
“You’ve paid enough,” he murmured quietly, having gone through the same past decade as me, though for different reasons. “At some point, you have to start worrying about you. You have a good life here. Your baby girl. Your new woman. A job. Your sister’s problems are not yours. Don’t take them on.”
I rubbed at the back of my neck. “I know. Doesn’t mean I can just turn it off, though.”
“No,” he agreed. “Bernice being here has really made me happy. I love her and all, but I’d choose Birdee every damn day of the week over Bernice. Bernice is my sister. But Birdee is the air I breathe.”
I thought about what he’d just said and realized that he was right.
Pippa was my sister. She’d been there from the very beginning.
However, Eddy? Eddy was my light in the darkness. The one person who didn’t judge me. The woman who would always choose me.
“All of a sudden, I feel much better about letting my sister fight her own battles.”
“Good,” he said just as the cub’s head jerked toward a sound only he could hear.
He scrambled down off the pole and ran into the woods, leaving us both standing there staring.
“If he could do that the entire time,” I sighed. “Why didn’t he do it earlier?”
Creed chuckled. “Because bears are assholes.”
“Amen.”
He stayed with me while I got the power restored that the bear had messed with while he was up on the pole.
Which was why I had someone with me when I got the call that had my heart clenching.
“Hey, Black,” I said, expecting to hear news about my sister.
